|| A Bouquet of Red and White Roses || [Yu Yu Hakusho Fan-fic] {Edits}

Fading Iridescence

Amid the sea of flames, I could only see one figure standing among dust. The building was collapsing before us but we remained unmoving. I gingerly touched my side as a sharp pain quickly shot through my body. Once the dust subsided, I noticed her looking at me with a mischievous smile. There was blood dripping down from the side of her mouth. 

"Why do you hesitate ?", she wearily called out. "Why don't you kill me ?" There was a ring of amusement in her voice. I tightened my hand around my wound and stared at her. "You're well aware of why", I replied bitterly. "Where did you put the box." She laughed as the pillar behind her collapsed. She slowly took a step towards me. I shifted my position and waited for her to do something. "Concerning the item that you seek", she was saying as she began to draw closer and closer to me, "..It's not here." I narrowed my gaze. "What ?" Her duplicate smirked and suddenly disappeared from where she was standing. I quickly crossed my arms in front of me as she reappeared above me. I found myself sliding back. I must've miscalculated where I was going to stop because I found myself being shoved into one of the crumbling walls around me. It fell on me and I was instantly surrounded by dust. Nearby, I could hear her laughing.

"Why go through all this trouble just to save one humans life ?", she said. "She's just a human. What worth does her life hold ?" I slowly pushed myself up and tightened my hand into a fist. "What worth ?", I asked, almost amused with the question. I took a deep breath and sighed in dismay. Afterwords, I looked in the direction of where she was standing and smiled. Despite not being able to see her because of the dust, I knew that she was looking at me. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and looked up at the cloud filled sky. I could hear Kana laughing.

"What worth ?", I asked with a slight grin.

"A worth that you can't see."

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"How long do you plan on running around ?" 

"If you keep going, you'll die with those wounds."

"Come here, let me see them."

"If you plan on standing on your own, then don't overlook such small wounds."

"Even if it appears harmless, it'll eventually grow into something you'll regret."

"And then someday you'll die."

"Is that really what you want ? There's still so much waiting for you."

Words which were spoken by a younger me. A low-class demon child who didn't know where she was going. To a time before I turned away from the life that I once lived. I remember.

My, it's been quite a long time since I've thought about the naive child that I used to be. It seems like the barrier between us is beginning to disappear now. Shiori, are you ready for the thing that we've worried about for so long ? It seems that the worst has come. Very shortly, someone will disappear along with this barrier. Which one will it be, I wonder. I worry for the results.

Is that irrational of me ? 

Shiori, someone has come for you. She stands at the exit, observing. On her face, an uneasy expression. Quickly Shiori, leave this place before it collapses into the dust.

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[Oka POV]

At the sight of the building that burned nearby, I reached into the pocket of my jacket and pulled out one of the talisman charms that Grandfather had given me before I left the Human World. I put my hands together and said a small prayer as it swiftly flew over the crumbling palace and surrounded it with a white light. Shortly after, the fire within it began to subside and I ran into the building, hoping to find Shiori. It was very faint, but I could feel her presence. That alone, was a red flag. It wouldn't be until about a few minutes later that I would actually find her. When I finally spotted her, she was leaning against one of the broken pillars with a weary expression on her face. She was glaring at something. I looked in that directions and noticed someone else. My eyes widened when I realized it was Luurè. He was looking over at Shiori with an amused smile while he loomed over what appeared to be Hanae's duplicate. Luurè seemed to be saying something to Shiori, but I couldn't hear it. At that moment, I noticed something else. I instantly ran in front of Shiori just as a red light headed towards her.

[...!!]

A green light appeared around us and the beams of red and green lights clashed with each other. I reached over for Shiori and gently put her on my back as I looked for a way to leave. I ended up running into a few things, but I was too focused on bringing Shiori out into the fresh air. From what I was aware of, she was still awake. Just as we emerged from the building, it collapsed and dust surrounded the area that we were standing in. I looked for a spot to put her down. My eyes landed on one of the large trees that were nearby.

After setting her down against the tree, I looked over her body and examined her wounds. Most of her wounds were minor, but the ones that I worried about the most were the deep wounds that were on her left shoulder and right side. Shiori winced as I raised her left arm. 

"Oka", she said softly, "What're you.. doing here ?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out a roll of beige colored gauze. "If you decide to fight me here", I said as I began to clean her wounds, "I won't leave you to do what you need to do. Understand ?" She wearily watched me and nodded. "If this hurts, bear with me. I need to stop the bleeding." "What.. happened to Luurè ?", she mumbled, "Where.. is he ?" I grimaced and quickly moved onto the wound on her side. "I don't know", I replied, beginning to feel anxious, "But I need to finish this before-"

"You will do no such thing~"

"..!?!!"

A shiver ran down my spine just as I found myself sliding across the ground. After a few seconds, I pushed myself up to see someone suddenly looming over me. Whoever it was, hit me from behind and prevented me from getting up. I coughed from the impact. The second time I tried to push myself up, that someone pulled my hair back and forced me to look up. My eyes widened. It was Eion. He gave me a mischievous smile as I attempted to feel myself from him. "Not so cautious now, now are you Guardian-san ?", he said and shoved me forward. I landed on my knees with a hard 'thud'. I looked over my shoulder and stared at him.

"I didn't think you'd come back so quickly", I muttered and sat up. He chuckled and began to circle around me. "Did you think that I'd go and miss all the fun ?" I lowered my gaze and glanced over at Shiori. To my surprise, she was standing beside the tree by using it as a form of support. She was looking out in front of her with a glare. I sighed in dismay and looked up at the night sky. For some reason, the red sky was darker that usual. My, oh my. 

It's already begun.